


Was it worth it?

by bluelove22



Category: Great Pretender (Anime)
Genre: Angst, Consequences, Hurt/Comfort, Stockholm Syndrome, They did my boy dirty, hurt!Makato
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 05:06:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26920063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluelove22/pseuds/bluelove22
Summary: CASE 4 SPOILERS! Takes place during/after episode 18.What if Laurent had been wrong? What if Makato's heart of gold broke?Because he did not go through all that and come out unscathed.
Comments: 15
Kudos: 242





	Was it worth it?

**Author's Note:**

> *Setting: on Team Confidence’s ship after Makato shoots his father*

“I think you’re making a mistake.”

Laurent smiled, but this time it was tight.

“Of all times to doubt me now is not the time, Abby. Trust me. Oz and I have planned every minor detail. Cynthia, you aren’t worried, are you?”

The gentle rocking of the ship didn’t mask the subtle nod of the confidence woman’s head. Across the water another ship could be seen getting further and further away. Soon it was out of eyesight completely, and with it Makato.

“I’m not worried about bringing them all down,” she finally responded, her eyes sad as she stared across the water, “but I agree with Abby that I think you did take it too far this time. You already made Edamura believe you and Abby died once. Back then he barely knew you both and he was still genuinely distressed at both of you two being shot despite him thinking you were using him. Now? He’s our friend. You withheld another yet another ploy from him, but this time his own father appeared to have shot us in cold blood. You had us treat him like we couldn’t bear to look at him. Laurent, you didn’t see his eyes when we fell overboard. They were shattered.”

He rolled his pale blue eyes. “He’s stronger than you think. Our little Edamame might be hurt now, but in time I’ll send his father to tell him the whole story. Once he sees his father well and alive and is told the same about us he—”

“You might be too late.” Abby cut him off mercilessly.

“Pardon?”

“By the time you fill him in on the plan it might already be too late. He’s more sensitive than the rest of us, you know. He wears his heart on his sleeve. That’s why you like him so much. But even the nicest people break. Remember what he told us in Los Angeles? He said he’d never do drugs, and now he’s smoking.”

“I would hardly count cigarettes as a drug.”

“It’s a narcotic, which is a drug.” She stated flatly. “Anyway, the next part of the plan relies on him getting close to the chairman and her taking a liking to him. What if after shooting his dad he tries to kill himself?”

Cynthia looked away the same moment Laurent winced.

“My my, what a dark turn this has taken,” he drawled before continuing. “Oz didn’t think that was a concern, so who am I to argue with the boy’s father?”

Abby curled her lip. “Some father. He prioritized this long revenge plot to avenge your lady friend over his son. Maybe he thinks he knows his kid, but he’s been away for so long who’s to say Edamura is the same as he was before his life went to shit?”

No one spoke after that. The only noise besides the gentle splashing of the waves came nearly a minute later from Shi Won and Ozaki dragging themselves aboard the ship.

Finally, as the newcomers worked on drying off, Laurent sighed.

“I don’t know what to tell you both to reassure you that everything will work out just fine. Other than telling you to trust me, of course.”

Abby narrowed her eyes at him, and even Cynthia’s nonplussed expression wavered.

“Ugh, fine. It will cost me some money but I have a contact who can hack into the camera footage from the crappy security cameras they’re using. I avoided going that route on account of it being a little more risky to get them involved; however, if it would make you both feel better I can get us a live stream of those cameras to keep an eye on our boy for the time being. How does that sound?”

It _had_ sounded nice. On the other hand, in practice Laurent wished he’d checked over the footage before making it available to the rest of the team.

Honestly, being able to check in on Makato backfired spectacularly. It wasn’t because of the cost either. No, it was because despite what Laurent and Oz had thought Makato was trying to kill himself.

“He hasn’t eaten or drank anything after they shoved him in that room three days ago,” Abby said. Her voice dripped with annoyance and anger. “He looks like shit.”

Cynthia wiped away the single tear that fell down her cheek as she took in the dark circles under Makato’s eyes. “He’s so pale. Laurent,” she yelled at him, “he’s going to starve himself to death!”

The blonde wanted to point out that he’d die of thirst first, but he decided now would not be a good time to do so. Instead he went for explaining why their friend wouldn’t get that far.

“Have you seen how the chairman looks at him? He’s around the same age as her son that left her side years ago. I know she sees him in Edamame, so she won’t let allow him to kill himself.”

Just as he said this there was movement on camera. Laurent, Cynthia, and Abby gathered in front of the hotel room’s TV (which was currently having the camera feed from a junk phone of Laurent’s casted to it) to see what was happening.

 _“He refuses to eat. I tried making him, but he won’t budge. Won’t drink anything either.”_ Ishigami explained to the chairman. The woman looked as serious as ever.

_“Let me go in alone. Don’t bother us, whatever happens.”_

_“But—”_

A sharp look at him as she took the tray of food was all he needed to shut up. Moments later the chairman was crouched down by a defeated looking Makato.

Without a word she grabbed his face and force fed him a spoonful of soup.

Choking, Makato pushed her hand away from his face so forcefully she dropped the spoon. He turned away as he caught his breath, tears sprouting to his eyes when he was finally able to look over his shoulder. His body language screamed distrust. He hunched in on himself like a frightened animal, yet his face was scrunched up in anger.

 _“Makato,”_ she spoke his name with a tenderness that made Team Confidence shiver, _“I know you’ve had a hard life, but that’s no reason to give up. Let me help you.”_

Silence, and then a quiet, hoarse: _“Why do you even care?”_

Makato had never sounded so hopeless.

_“Just because your father and conman friends didn’t care doesn’t mean I don’t. Please, Makato, you have so much potential. Not just as an employee. As a human being.”_

_“But—”_

_“I won’t leave you in the dark like they did. You’ll be at my side, and I at yours. I promise.”_

There was an agonizing moment where Makato just stared at the chairman with wide eyes. They were full of the same childlike innocence Laurent had missed seeing, the same innocence that led to his heart being on his sleeve. Then, when she opened her arms in invitation for a hug, he surged forward. The second his face buried into the crook of her neck she encircled him, rubbing his back comfortingly as wails cut across the room. Slowly the fists that had bunched tightly around the chairman’s clothes loosened, almost as if he wasn’t afraid of her leaving him any longer.

 _“There there,”_ she whispered in his ear. _“I’m the only one you need. You can trust me, Makato, I will make sure no one ever hurts you again.”_

Suddenly the camera feed shut off. Laurent and Abby turned to Cynthia, who held the remote to the TV in her hand so tightly it looked like she wanted to break the thing.

“Laurent,” the redhead ground out dangerously, “is this how you intended for us to get close to that woman? By letting her get into Edamura’s head while he’s at his most vulnerable? Even if you have his father tell him we’re alive and explain the rest of the con how do we know he won’t turn against us? Stockholm syndrome is real. And even if he does manage to pull through and come back to us you’ve scarred him. He might never be the same.”

“Cynthia, please. I don’t think you’re giving him enough credit. He’s a conman through and through, and he’s also got a heart of gold; regardless of the hardships he’s faced he will pull through because that’s just who he is.”

Abby scoffed. “He’s not the same as us, idiot. He’s better than us. That means that heart of his might not ever harden against us, but we’ll be damned if it starts bleeding for the lady who’d kill us without a moment’s hesitation.”

“He’ll be reasonable once he’s in the loop. Oz guaranteed it.”

The woman looked at each other, obviously perturbed.

“He’s been wrong once before,” the elder finally said.

Abby agreed. “And there’s nothing stopping him from screwing up a second time.”

When Ozaki saw the cat figurine in the chairman’s office he knew something was wrong. The cat tie had been one thing, but Makato had given the owner of a child trafficking empire an item very similar to one he’d given his own mother before her death.

However, it was too late to tip off the rest of the team that something was off. The last “act” had already begun.

Thankfully, everything went according to plan. The con artists did feel Makato’s performance was much rawer than expected, so much so it actually made a few of them worried he actually had turned on them, but in the end he took his “death” with the grace required of him.

“Makato? Makato!”

At the call of the chairman’s voice, Makato struggled not to break character. It wasn’t until she continued shouting his name even as “bullets” were flying that he finally couldn’t take it anymore.

That’s when things went wrong.

“Makato!”

His eyes flew open.

“Chairman!”

His cry caught the attention of the other con artists. They watched in shock as he pulled himself up and found her in the midst of the smoke bomb Kudo had set off, the look on his face pure distress until he reunited with the woman in an embrace that felt haunting to those on the side of justice. Still, Ishigami ran away like the coward he was. Liu and Chen were long gone as well.

“Makato! Makato!”

The chairman’s face was covered in tears, her entire form trembling as she clutched him with no intention to let go.

“I’m sorry! I’m not hurt, I promise!” Makato explained reassuringly. “It just looks bad. Forgive me, I’m sorry!”

Laurent and Ozaki shared a look with each other. From across the room Abby nodded, leaping over the fake battlefield and landing behind the chairman. With a quick strike to the neck the elderly woman slumped to the ground unconscious.

Makato stared open-mouthed.

“What the hell was that for?”

His voice cut across the room. The doors were locked, and the sound of the smoke bomb hissing as well as the occasional blanks was enough to keep those hunkered down outside the room away.

As eloquent as ever, Abby glared at her friend with distaste.

“She’s the enemy, idiot. Did you forget she buys and sells children to sick bastards for money?”

“Of course not. I know that better than anyone else,” he responded, features shadowed. “I’m one who’s been auctioning them off.”

“Makato, sweetie,” Cynthia jumped in, “that was just part of the plan. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Shut up! And don’t call me that. Only my mother and Akemi can call me that. You don’t have the right.”

Ozaki frowned. “Son, that’s no—”

“I don’t want to hear you call me son either,” he screamed, turning towards his father with all the anger he could muster. “You’re father by blood and that’s that. Also, how was me selling children part of the plan when I thought you all left me alone? I worked for them completely content with myself for months. Months. I sold children to rich men and women with a smile on my face,” he grimaced, his stomach churning, “and when I told them it was for the best I believed it. I kept thinking that their parents were the ones who contacted us, that they were the ones that decided their kids weren’t worth shit, so I convinced the children to go with scumbags who would abuse them between pampering because that seemed like a better end to their stories.

“And I know why I did it. Because the chairman— Akemi— knew I was just like them. My supposed friends and even my own father left me to rot with the leader of a child trafficking company. Even if it was part of some long scheme how could someone who genuinely cares do that to someone? I was selling children for _months_. And I was good at it,” he croaked, tears streaming down his face. “I’m just as bad as them now, and no amount of forgiving myself will ever change that. Forgiving you all for consciously doing this to me? Never going to happen.”

Kudo and Shi Won, as well as several of the other con artists, and even Cassano seemed shaken by the words coming out of Makato’s mouth. Those who hadn’t understood the spiel the young con artist had gone on just a few minutes prior finally understood that he hadn’t been truly acting. The things he’d shouted about avenging someone he’d never met while his mother and he were forced to hold second candle made sense. His anger about his entire life being on strings for something he wanted nothing to do with? How were the con artists better than any other villains they brought down?

Sadly, there wasn’t much time left for them to deal with the situation here and now.

Laurent’s eyes flickered to Abby yet again, and the girl nodded even as her face screwed up in displeasure. Makato knew what was coming before it had a chance to happen.

“Really? You’re just going to knock me out?” A bitter laugh escaped him. “I should’ve guessed as much, because unlike everyone else here I’m just some pawn. It’s not like I’m your friend. Making me think as much was probably another detail in his stupid plans.” His shoulders sagged, and his mouth tightened as he tried to hold back a sob. “Just… do with me as you please. It’s not like I ever got a say in what I wanted anyway. You might as well save yourselves the trouble and leave me here with Akemi. She might be a monster, but her feelings for me aren’t fake.”

“She only cares about you because you remind her of her son,” Ozaki responded.

Makato stared back at his father dully. “So? At this point I might as well be her son. She was more of a mother to me in the span of two months than you were to me my entire life. She loves me, Oz.” He spit the name out with disdain. “That’s more than I can say about you.”

The next moment Makato was on the ground, Abby having delivered a chop to the back of his neck. His unconscious form lied right beside the chairman. They both looked so peaceful it was off-putting.

After a moment, Laurent clapped his hands. “Okay! While this took quite a turn let’s all agree to take care of this as soon as we’re off the island.”

In the end, Laurent made the difficult decision of bringing the chairman with them. By the time her and Makato woke up they were locked in a room on the cruise ship Cassano and company had brought. From the comfort of their phones team confidence listened over the microphone in their quarters as Makato told her everything.

_“I was going to betray them. I had everything in place. All I wanted was to rest; I was so tired of everything in my life being outside of my control. Every job, every person I talked to, how was I to know if it wasn’t part of Laurent’s schemes? I felt anxious that any friend I made would actually turn out to be a con man or woman there to just use me for some plot. But you didn’t use me. You cared, and you utilized me because you saw what I could do. Even if that’s not the case, and all those things you told me like enjoying the coffee I brew or offering me to live with you in your retirement was a lie, I still hope that you can forgive me. Not for bringing down your empire, because I do believe what you were doing was wrong, but for betraying you. Being betrayed by someone you love is the worst feeling imaginable, and I did it to you. Akemi,” his voice was so small in the presence of the woman just staring at him, “I’m so sorry for disappointing you.”_

The young man was on the ground, his head and hands by his knees as he begged for a monster’s forgiveness. Team confidence was sure this was the moment that the chairman would drop her act.

_“Makato, raise your head.”_

Laurent couldn’t have been more wrong.

 _“You poor thing,”_ she breathed, tears sprouting in her eyes. She opened her arms welcomingly to which Makato slowly crawled over to reciprocate. When she spoke she did so into his shoulder. _“I’m sorry for all that has happened to you. These con artists have treated you like a tool, not a friend. They lied to you and used you time and time again for their own gain with no regard of your wants or feelings. It’s no wonder you were so confused. Makato, of course I forgive you. You might not be my son by blood, but I do love you.”_

 _“I,”_ his words were clipped and uncertain, _“I love you too. I’m sorry I got us into this mess.”_

_“It’ll be alright. We’ll get out of this, and when we do we can finally relax like we’ve always wanted. Doesn’t that sound nice?”_

_“It does. Say, how does traveling from time to time to taste coffee from around the world sound?”_

A smile graced the chairwoman’s face. _“That sounds lovely, Makato.”_

On the ship’s deck the blonde man could feel all eyes on him. Between Abby, Cynthia, Kudo, Shi Won, and even Cassano, Sam, and Coleman it appeared as if his revenge plot had finally come to bite him in the ass.

“To be fair,” he started, “I was assured by his father that our little Edamame would be able to handle it.”

Now all eyes turned to Ozaki, whose face was clouded with guilt and regret.

“I… was wrong. Just like all those years ago. I screwed up again.”

“Big deal,” Abby said. “Feeling sorry for yourself isn’t going to fix the fact that you forgot how much of a bleeding heart your son has. No amount of whining or complaining is going to suddenly get rid of months worth of Stockholm syndrome, and it sure isn’t going to assure him that you’re done using him like you have been for half of his life.”

Cynthia nodded. “She’s right. Both of you are going to need to fix this, or we won’t forgive you.”

Laurent sighed, pulling Dorothy’s old ring out of his pocket.

He’d gotten his revenge, but at what cost?

**Author's Note:**

> AN: Hello! For those that have been reading my writing for the past several years (or maybe you're new) I've been talking about publishing original content for the last couple years. Well, I've finally done it! As of today my debut novel "Another Word for Help" is up for pre-order on all the major channels. You can find information about the book itself, details on getting an advanced copy in exchange for a review, and more on my official author website which there is a link to on my profile page.


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